The Sketchy Past Of Groupon's Chairman

Groupon's IPO news has the media hounding for information.
Fortune
dug into the past of its chairman, Eric Lefkofsky, and found
some concerning details.

The article starts with a quote from Lefkofsky back in the early
2000s when he was running Starbelly. Starbelly was a promotional
apparel company that sold to Ha-Lo industries for $240
million.

"Lets start having fun... lets get funky... let's announce
everything... let's be WILDLY positive in our forecasts... lets
take this thing to the extreme... if we get wacked [sic] on the
ride down-who gives a shit... THE TIME TO GET RADICAL IS NOW...
WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE..."

These weren't the first or last of the lawsuits that "checker"
Lefkofsky's past.

"Lefkofsky's track record, reflecting failures and successes,
bears certain hallmarks: rapid revenue growth accompanied by big
losses, a penchant to sell stock early on, and lawsuits filed by
investors, lenders or customers who feel they have been wronged,"
he writes.

He continues: "Lefkofsky summarizes his credo as "you might as well fail fast." And, apparently, cash out
fast. That ethic may be fine in the world of private equity,
where investors usually have enough net worth and sophistication
to stomach such risk. But it's another matter entirely in the
public markets, where middle class investors can be seduced by
the allure of a hot tech IPO."